


Will You Still Need Me?

by ani_bester



Category: Invaders (Marvel), Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Age Difference, Developing Relationship, F/M, Memories, Old Age, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-03
Updated: 2013-05-03
Packaged: 2017-12-10 06:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/782751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ani_bester/pseuds/ani_bester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Both Toro and Ann are working to reconcile what has changed between them and what has not and decide if they can rekindle their old relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Will You Still Need Me?

**Author's Note:**

> Ann is her canon age in this. Probably about 75-85, give or take some crack marvel year passage. I'm also working from the idea that she's divorced or widowed.

Toro sat in Ann's small living room facing the TV. His attention though was focused on the room itself rather than the fast flashing colors that dominated the overlarge screen. He ran his hands over the unfamiliar couch, feeling the soft fabric beneath him rather than the leather he remembered. Ann had told him that the cherry brown loveseat they'd picked out from the second hand shop had needed to be replaced in May of 1981; though, Ann had clung to it until the tattered loveseat could not even be given away. Toro had appreciated that sentiment. Ann wasn't sentimental, at least not when compared to Toro, but she had her own sense of what needed to be kept and what did not. The loveseat Ann had kept until the holes could no longer be hidden by turning cushions over and the wood had become weak with age.

His gaze wondered around the room again as he listened to the thump of the cupboard door in the kitchen as Ann got them mugs for tea. A red and yellow stuffed frog across the room caught his attention. The toy sat on one of Ann's knickknack shelves at the forefront of small stuffed animal herd. A pink elephant was propped up next to a purple and green snake, which was coiled partly around a small white unicorn. All in all there were twelve little animals on the shelf, one for each year they'd gone to the local carnival together. The cheap looking crafmanship made the collection to stand out amongst the porcelain and crystal decorations, but they were arranged with the same care and thought as the more expensive items. 

Seeing them brought back the scent of cotton candy. It was as sharp and sweet as if he was still with Ann at the carnival that passed through town every summer.

___________________________________ 

"You cheated," Ann laughed once out of ear shot of the vendor. Toro gave her an innocent look as he presented the tiny frog to his new wife. 

"Me, cheat? I think you'd have noticed a fireball, Mrs. Raymond." 

Ann cocked her head and fixed him with a look that she had whenever she knew someone was trying to put something past her. "Yes, I dare say I would, but I also noticed how flushed you suddenly got, and warm." Ann poked Tom on the shoulder. "And I know a thing or two about hot air currents and what you are actually capable of when you need to be subtle."

Tom gave her his best imitation of a Bucky grin and held up his hands in defeat. "Well to be fair, he was cheating first. It wasn't even a clever rig." He reached for the little frog. "Want me to give it back?" he asked. 

Ann jerked the toy from Toro's reach as she batted his hand away. "No, I am going to keep this. To remind me that sweet little Toro isn't the goody two-shoes the newsreels made him out to be."

Toro laughed. It was a short, staccato laugh, and after a moment Ann added her own higher pitched giggle to the merriment. 

Inspired by the moment, Toro grabbed Ann around the waist and kissed her on the back of the neck, smelling the soft hint of honey that always seemed to cling to her.

___________________________________ 

"I never could bring myself to put them away," Toro jumped at the sound of Ann's voice. Blinking, he found himself in front of the shelf with the little frog in his hands. He couldn't recall getting up. He carefully set the toy back with the others then turned and accepted the tea Ann offered him. He noticed she'd left her mug on the coffee table.

Ann brushed some of her white hair back behind her ear and sighed. Even after all this time, her hair still refused to stay pulled back. 

"It's funny because if- if things had been different I'd never have kept them out, or probably kept them at all, but there they are." Ann reached out and petted the little frog. For a moment Toro stared at her hand, noting the wrinkles, especially around her wrist, and the spider web of blue beneath her pale skin. Sitting the mug careful on the shelf, he reached out and takes her hand. Holding it tight he pulled her into a hug. She still smelled faintly of honey, and for just a bit Toro pretended - not than Ann was younger- that he was older, with the same white hair and wrinkles. He pretended that there were another 33 little animals on that shelf, or, as Ann had said, no need for there to be any on that shelf at all. In another life perhaps the photographs of children with brown hair and blue eyes would occupy that spot. 

Ann patted him on his back, a familiar signal that Toro couldn't help but smile at. He let her go with a peck on the cheek. "I suppose it's getting late," Toro murmured. 

Ann blinked and took a step back. "I suppose it is. Is someone picking you up tonight or have you finally passed that test again?"

Toro chuckled. "Ann you know how long it took me to get a license the first time. Now everything is bigger and faster, what do you think?"

 

With a laugh of her own, Ann patted Toro on the shoulder. "I think then that Mr. Barnes will be coming to get you."

Toro nodded. 

"You know-" Ann began but then stopped. She flushed and walked past Toro to re-arrange the small stuffed animals. 

"Ann?" Toro asked. His voice rose slightly as he put his hand on her shoulder. 

She did not look away from the animals and Tom could feel her shoulders tense beneath his hand. "If you wanted to…." Ann's shoulder's tensed more. "If you wanted to 'stay the night,' Tom, I wouldn't say no."

"Stay the-" Toro repeated as he tried to reconcile the words with his own assuredness that she had moved past him decades ago. He reached out for his mug and stared at the ripples in the tea, feeling Ann's gaze on him. 

"Ann, I- you mean-." Toro fell silent and continued to look down at his tea. He felt the heat of the room shift as Ann moved past him. 

"It's ok Tom," he heard her say. There was a strained quality to her voice now, a trembling that was out of place with the self assured woman in Toro's mind's eye. 

Toro turned and looked up to find Ann smiling a goodbye smile up at him. She reached out to cup his cheek with her hand. 

"I am sorry I-I." He felt her hand quiver against his cheek as Ann continued to smile as though her mouth had been frozen that way. "I'm ever so much more than twenty, aren’t I Tom," she murmured with a voice that shook along with her hand. 

Taking Ann's hand once again, Toro brought it to his lips and kissed her finger tips. He brushed his lips further up her arm, tugging her closer as he moved. He nuzzled against her neck for a few seconds before brushing his lips against her lips. It was gentle and light, something easily broken if Toro had misunderstood the liberty he was being granted, just as their first kiss had been. 

Ann sighed beneath him and then, like she had that night under the porch to her house, she deepened it, her fingers twisting into the fabric of Toro's shirt , holding him tight against her until she choose to break the kiss. 

Toro moved back slightly, his gaze locked with hers. She raised on eyebrow at him and smiled, and Toro couldn't help but smile back. The uncertain demeanor of a few minutes ago had given way to the more headstrong woman Toro had known so well. 

"I would love to stay the night," Toro answered as he bent down to kiss her again. This time he reached up and pulled out the pins that kept her held back into the bun. Her silver hair tumbled down around her shoulders and Toro couldn’t help but run his fingers through it for a few moments. 

"Let me go call Bucky," he said when it felt right to talk again. “I should let him know he doesn’t need to come get me.”"

Ann nodded and Toro found himself with the cordless phone in his hand almost before he'd thought about walking to it. 

He punched the number in as though he had super speed and willed Bucky to pick up on the first ring. Bucky picked up on the second.

"Bucky," Toro said in response to the voice on the other end. "No actually, I'm not calling to be picked up, I'm gonna stay." There was a pause and Toro smiled. "Yes the night." He smiled wider and leaned against the wall. "Yes, Bucky, the whole night. Yes Bucky. Well, what do you do when you stay the _whole_ night with a dame?" 

He could feel himself beginning to flush; his words making the offer a sudden sharp reality. He glanced back to the living room to see if Ann was still there waiting, only half listening to Bucky’s questions. As his gaze fell over the couch, a jolt of excitement shot through him. There lying over the middle cushion was the blouse Ann had been wearing. And there in the hallway were her shoes and stockings.

"Bucky," Toro cut his friend off. "I gotta go."

Without waiting on a response, Toro hung the phone up. He swung his arms around a bit as he went to the couch just to make sure Ann hadn't left anything else there. Seeing nothing, he headed toward the bedroom door, unbuttoning his shirt as he went.


End file.
